The present inventive subject matter relates to the art of payment processing for commercial transactions. It finds particular application in conjunction with payments and/or commercial transactions conducted over a public data network such as the Internet, and it will be described with particular reference thereto. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that it is also amenable to other like applications.
By way of background, merchants and customers alike enjoy the benefit of conducting business over telecommunication networks such as the Internet. Generally, it is advantageous for both parties to have available multiple options from which the customer is able to select a desired form of payment for a given transaction. Examples of such commercially available payment options for conducting eCommerce transactions include traditional and alternate payment brands alike. Notwithstanding the benefit, merchants may find it unduly burdensome to integrate and/or otherwise support a wide variety of payment options on their websites.
In many conventional approaches, for a merchant to offer and/or otherwise support a particular payment option or method, they have to implement a specific protocol or follow specific guidelines that are commonly prescribed or otherwise defined by the payment brand provider. These protocols and/or guidelines for completing eCommerce transactions typically vary by payment brand. Complying with multiple different protocols and/or guidelines can be unwieldy for a merchant that would prefer to concentration efforts on sales or other important business of the merchant. The problem can be further exacerbated, for example, when new payment options and/or methods are periodically developed for conducting eCommerce transaction. Additionally, existing payment options and/or method may periodically change so that the merchant website has to be updated or altered to properly support the changed payment option. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciated, to continue supporting a wide variety of payment options as they are developed and/or periodically changed, can involve significant work and/or dedication of resources on the part of a merchant to bring their website into suitable compliance for providing the desired payment brands to customers.
Therefore, a new and improved system and apparatus for providing a merchant's website with one or more payment options to be selected by a customer is disclosed that overcomes the above-referenced problems and others.